I've been pretty happy with the line so far. I just picked up Hot Rod this week and I do have one complaint though. I'm not really a fan of the way most of the cars (Hot Rod, Breakaway, Chromedome) don't really try to incorporate their guns into their vehicle modes.

I guess this complaint could also be made with Combiner Wars, but for some reason, it didn't bother me as much as it does with the cars in the Titans Return line.

I've been pretty happy with the line so far. I just picked up Hot Rod this week and I do have one complaint though. I'm not really a fan of the way most of the cars (Hot Rod, Breakaway, Chromedome) don't really try to incorporate their guns into their vehicle modes.

I think Hot Rod is fine, since his guns were designed to mount on his engine block like his Targetmaster partner used to do back in the day. It's a little awkward but it pushes the right nostalgic buttons for me, at least, since I grew up with TM Hot Rod. But in general you're right. The car-bots in the last few waves have done very little to hide or integrate their weapons. Most of them ruin the car-mode look if they're attached.

I think that might be because the weapons have been so substantial lately, though. It's a lot easier to hide the tiny little pistol that Universe Sunstreaker came with than it is CW Streetwise's shotgun or TR Hot Rod's giant rifles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denyer

Anyone else really like Kup or is it just me? Seen a fair few negative or meh comments online but I think it captures and updates the original toy really well.

If Kup had grey arms all the way down like the toy, it'd look great. As-is there's too much teal for my liking, at least in pics. I like that they attempted the toy look (having grown up with a TM Kup alongside that Hot Rod) but I don't think they quite pulled it off.

Considering where they end up on the alt-mode, it seems fair enough. Also gives the robot mode more definition whereas the original was a cab with limbs projecting out from the sides. The way that TR figures flatten cockpits etc is pretty impressive.

I like it! Actually, I think that mold works a lot better for Siren or even Nightbeat than it does for Breakaway.

As a professional tanuki (I'm a Japanese mythological animal, and a good luck charm), I have an alarm clock built into me somewhere. I also look like a stuffed animal. And you thought your life was tough......

I found the voyager Optimus Prime and the headmaster Repugnus and Shuffler a little while back. I like the little guys! They're cute! And Shuffler has a decent weapon mode as well.

I picked up the Prime because I had a passing interest in the Black Convoy version Takara put out and wanted to know the mold first, and... well. Money saved! He's a bit like Broadside in that he has only two modes. He does not have a third, airplane mode. Only the two. Only. Two.

But really, the basic problem with this mold is the same problem with the deluxe Octane from a few years ago. Instead of letting the wings just run the length of the truck mode (say, underneath it?) so that they can be better proportioned to the plane, they made the wings fold up inside the truck, leaving them comically small.

I saw Trypticon in a real, physical store yesterday! It was neat. I did the adult thing and left it there in favor of paying bills, but not without a test of willpower first, lol.

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Originally Posted by Skyquake87

Probably because Trypticon is one of the rare instances where the animation model colours match the toy...

Yeah. I remember a bit of hoopla about the Galaxy Force version of Primus because of the box art, but the toy itself was identical to the Cybertron version, even down to the key code on the cyber key. And yet I remember some people still wanting to believe it was better for some reason...

I saw Trypticon in a real, physical store yesterday! It was neat. I did the adult thing and left it there in favor of paying bills, but not without a test of willpower first, lol.

I snagged mine at a Think Geek store in the local mall. The local TRU to me never carries the good exclusives or the big bots for the most part. It was super frustrating trying to get a Fort Max for MSRP without having to pay a scalper or shipping on a package that large.

As a kid, I grew up loving the groups of headmasters. They had a cool gimmick, I thought the concept was a cool one. Two robots in one. However, I don't have very many Titans Return figures and it seems hard to land some of the good ones as well. I don't fancy all of the Transformers being headmasters. I think that it is still cool, but it takes away some of the uniqueness of saying I have a headmaster. Now I may be thinking to much into it. I do think it is cool to bring them back. They also don't have a tech spec readout I really liked that additional feature on the figure. What are your thoughts on this?

Some of the character selections were a bit confusing. I can just about get onboard with making the Targetmasters or Powermasters into Headmasters, because Targetmasters and Powermasters are pretty weak gimmicks. But it's a little odd to think of the Triplechangers or Jumpstarters as Headmasters.

Some of the guys who weren't traditionally Headmasters do wind up looking a bit wonky because of how the gimmick messes with their head outline. Hot Rod, Scourge, Brawn, Voyager Optimus and Astrotrain all look a bit strange, but Galvatron is the big "winner" in that category. But for the most part I think the toys turned out well. Maybe the Voyagers were trying to do too much at once -- triplechangers and Headmasters with cockpits and with pop-up "collar" bits to bulk up their heads. But they were mostly good. And since it seems like Generations is going to be a gimmicky line for the foreseeable future, I'd rather those guys be Headmasters (or combiner limbs) than not get made at all.

I think you are right about the characters that were not originally headmasters looking a bit strange. I have had my Skullsmasher/skullcruncher with Grax figure for a while mint condition. I thought to myself that I should unbox it. I love the figure but I hate that cheap plastic cockpit door. There are parts where I wish that they didn't get cheap on the details, but I think that overall the figure is good takes some working with the head positioning of the gator head, but overall a great figure. I ordered Stylor and Chromedome as well. I'm gonna give this a shot. I missed out on Combiner Wars, but I loved headmasters as a kid, so I will love these now.

Ironically, most of my favourite figures in the line have turned out to be guys that weren't Headmasters originally: Triggerhappy, Misfire, Topspin and Blurr (the Takara version anyway). The only actual Headmaster character who'd make my top five would be Weirdwolf.

Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Hardhead and Chromedome are all quite good too, if all you're interested in are the traditional Headmaster dudes. Brainstorm and Highbrow are a little bit less good, but even then the worst thing you could say about them is they're pretty average.

Lots of good designs, including the non-traditional HM characters, as there were in CW -- the lines just aren't realistically priced any more compared to other stuff on the shelves, which may be because production costs are higher for so many moving parts or paint apps, etc. Higher end figures are having similar problems.